Forum Discussion

BB75's avatar
BB75
Tuning in
18 days ago

VM hub 5 and TP Link VR400

I have a large ish house with solid walls, very few stud walls so coverage has always been an issue.  I have a CAT 6 Ethernet cable under flooring connecting the Hub 5 via Ethernet to TP Link Archer VR400 router.  It worked ok apart from the fact I had two networks.  So my Sonos speakers would only talk to the VM Wi-Fi and not TP Link.  I tried to change all this three days ago but was unsuccessful.  I factory reset both the VM hub 5 and the TP Link Archer.  Now the Hub is not providing any internet to the Archer.  I have tried setting the hub 5 into modem mode as the archer is easier to configure, but no dice.    I’ve tried various different Ethernet ports on both the hub and the archer - no difference. I’ve tried adjusting various settings in the 192.168.0.1 menus on the hub and the 192.168.1.1 menus on the archer - nothing.  I’ve connected both via Ethernet cable to the Apple Mac to access these menus.  I’ve also tried brand new Ethernet cables between the hub 5 and the archer - nothing, so it’s not the cable. 
It’s either a setting on the VM hub 5 that is preventing internet connectivity to the archer,

or:

it’s the settings in the archer.  
I need an Ethernet port in the room with the archer as our virgin media tv box will not connect to Netflix etc as Wi-Fi signal is terrible.  The tv box is asking to be connected via Ethernet cable.  I don’t have a pod but Virgin are sending me one.  However, reading various threads, this doesn’t seem to solve much plus it won’t provide the Ethernet connection needed for the tv.  Ideally, I’d prefer to use the archer as the router and the hub in modem mode, but I cannot get that to work at all.  Is there anything I can do or buy to solve this issue and would give me internet access at the end of my CAT 6 cable?  My husband has posh speakers that he’d like to use a streamer with but guess what?  That requires an Ethernet connection and is in the same deadzone room where the tp link archer was previously working.  Please help, this whole situation is driving me insane.  I’ve got Ring cameras, garden lighting, heating, lights and house alarm so just one network throughout the whole house would be the best option for us. 

15 Replies

  • Adduxi's avatar
    Adduxi
    Very Insightful Person
    18 days ago

    Reset the Hub back to factory settings.  Set the Archer in access point mode.  Connect the Archer to the Hub via cable.  Set the SSID and passwords of the Archer Wifi to the same as the Hub.  The Archer should have a static address outside the DHCP scope of the Hub, so something like IP 192.168.0.5, Subnet 255.255.255.0  Gateway 192.168.0.1

    This way you will have 2 Wifi sources broadcasting the same SSID, allowing roaming and giving greater coverage than a single router alone.

    • BB75's avatar
      BB75
      Tuning in
      16 days ago

      Thanks for replying - so far I’ve managed to get internet through to the Archer by putting it into modem only mode and changing the input to dynamic IP, the hub 5 is now talking to the Archer - so that’s something.  I think my dream of the Archer running it all and the Hub 5 being modem only is too difficult.

  • BB75's avatar
    BB75
    Tuning in
    18 days ago

    That would be great but according to the internet, the Archer doesn’t have access point mode?  If I were to try, how do I put the archer into access mode? Thanks

    • Adduxi's avatar
      Adduxi
      Very Insightful Person
      18 days ago

      Yes, looks like that's quite an old ADSL router.  Personally with this in mind, I'd just get a proper wifi access point.  Put a switch in place of the Archer, and plug in a decent AP.

      Alternatively, get an Archer C6, which has access point mode. 

      • BB75's avatar
        BB75
        Tuning in
        16 days ago

        Hi, I’ve replied in the wrong place!  So I’ve managed to get the Hub to talk to the Archer, but the Archer is modem only mode.  I don’t know whether to risk sticking the Hub5 into modem only mode and trying the Archer as the router again now I know to set the internet to dynamic IP?

  • Roger_Gooner's avatar
    Roger_Gooner
    Alessandro Volta
    18 days ago

    You just have to log into the the Archer and statically set its IP address to 192.168.0.5 as advised. Also ensure its DHCP server is disabled (as the hub's DHCP server is active in router mode) and the connection from the hub is to one of its LAN ports. Now reboot the Archer and you should have broadband and Wi-Fi from it.

  • Roger_Gooner's avatar
    Roger_Gooner
    Alessandro Volta
    16 days ago

    The benefit of the current setup is that you get broadband from both the hub and TP-Link - which matters in a house like yours. If you put the hub into modem mode you'll only get broadband from the TP Link.

    • BB75's avatar
      BB75
      Tuning in
      15 days ago

      Ok great, thanks for replying.  I’m going to go with that set up and fingers crossed everything connects back onto it.  Thank you for your help!